Astros 10, Reds 4: And three makes a winning streak

CINCINNATI – One took almost a week as the Astros didn’t notch their first win until the last game of their season-opening six-game road trip.

Two was a struggle as well. They were the last team in the National League to put together back-to-back wins, doing it in games 17 and 18 in New York.

Three has been a thing of beauty, as the Astros emphatically notched and then celebrated their third consecutive win for the first time this season, pounding the Reds 10-4 behind J.A. Happ’s arm and a balanced evening at the plate.

Or as Jason Bourgeois, who has started all three and totaled eight hits therein, put it:

“They say three is a streak.”

After winning games 27 and 28 of the season against Milwaukee behind stellar pitching performances, the Astros slugged their way to a victory in No. 29, chasing Mike Leake in the course of a six-run fourth inning that put the belated opener of this three-game series.

They went with the same lineup they intended to use against Leake Monday before the game got rained out well in advance of the scheduled start time. Twenty-four hours later, the bats were ready.

The Astros tallied seven hits by the time Leake departed just 11 outs into his start, and Happ cruised with the 7-1 lead, giving way to a quartet of relievers who finished the thorough job.

“We had some great at-bats tonight,” Bourgeois said after going 3-for-5 with two doubles to raise his average to .390 during the Astros’ 13-hit night. “I think we can feed off that. And that’s three straight pitching performances that were above-average.”

Chris Johnson got the Astros going with a solo home run in the second to erase a 1-0 deficit, and the Astros would break it open, garner some breathing room and pile on all in the span of 10 batters in the fourth.

After singles from Hunter Pence and Brett Wallace and a walk to Bill Hall, Clint Barmes recorded his first hit as an Astro, a two-run double that gave Houston a 3-1 lead. They would add four more on an Humberto Quintero groundout, a Happ single (he’s 5-for-10 this year) and two on Bourgeois’ double off reliever Jordan Smith.

Wallace later added his second home run of the year in his first start in the cleanup spot with no conscious intention of fitting that cleanup mold. The hits have been there for most of the season – he is now on an 11-game hitting streak and hitting .383 with a .448 on-base percentage and a .548 slugging percentage.

“The home runs are going to start hopefully coming,” said Wallace, who hit two in his two months last season. “But it’s something that’s going to have to develop in time.”

Staked to the 7-1 lead, which had swelled to 9-1 by the fifth, Happ pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and walking just one – a far cry from his last start at Great American Ball Park when he walked five in allowing seven runs in four innings in losing a blowout against Leake and the Reds.

“To be honest, I thought that was the best stuff I’ve had so far,” Happ said after coming in with a 6.35 ERA. “I felt like I was attacking the zone better and not walking guys.”

He gave way to Enerio Del Rosario and Fernando Abad in the seventh, with the latter getting a crucial and exceedingly rare popup from reigning MVP Joey Votto on his only pitch of the night. Mark Melancon pitched the eighth and handed it over to Nelson Figueroa who pitched a hitless frame in his first relief appearance of the year to send the Astros back to their hotel at 12-17, and with that elusive winning streak.

“We’re not really worried about getting a streak going, we’re just trying to win every series,” Johnson said.

Well, they can clinch two straight winning series Wednesday. And then if they win one more series.